Tag: Rich Franklin

The Fight Network reports that Rich Franklin is looking to make his Octagon return at the UFC’s April 19th event in Montreal. His opponent will be TUF4 middleweight winner Travis Lutter; it was first rumored that Franklin would face Lutter at UFC 82, but recent knee surgery forced Franklin to postpone the match. Both men are coming off of losses to Anderson Silva.

Echoing a previous claim, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua has revealed to GracieMag.com that he will also be fighting in Montreal, against a yet-unnamed opponent. The Chute Boxe defector has decided to stay in Curitiba, Brazil, and form a new gym with ex-teammate Andre Dida called Universidade da Luta (Fight University).

— Contradicting earlier rumors that Michael Bisping’s first opponent as a middleweight will be Evan Tanner, Sherdog is reporting that Bisping will face Charles McCarthy in London on March 8. Nicknamed “Captain Miserable” on the fourth season of The Ultimate Fighter, McCarthy’s last match was a submission victory over Gideon Ray in November 2006. With UFC 82 scheduled for March 1 in Columbus, this could mean that the Bisping/McCarthy bout is part of a UFC Fight Night card — or, the entire thing could be made up, which is always a possibility.

Remember that rumor about Rich Franklin fighting Travis Lutter at UFC 82? Well, according to Franklin himself, it ain’t true. From a post on RichFranklin.com:

I am told there are rumors of me fighting multiple people in March. I have not signed for a fight in March. I don’t believe that I am allowed to fight more than once in a night. I hope this clears up any confusion. I have not signed to fight anyone in March, or any other month.

Bummer! It sounds like Franklin isn’t even thinking about his fight career until filming wraps on Weapon. As an expression of our disappointment, here’s Ace getting knocked out by Lyoto Machida, who faces (and will probably be beaten by) Rameau Sokoudjou at UFC 79:

It’s being reported that UFC 82 — which goes down March 2 in Columbus, and will be headlined by a middleweight championship bout between Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson — will also feature the Octagon return of actor/fighter Rich Franklin, who will face off against Ultimate Fighter 4 winner Travis Lutter. Both men are coming off of losses to Anderson Silva, but unlike Franklin, Lutter actually came close to beating him, creaming the champ with unanswered punches from the mount in the first round of their match at UFC 67 before Silva slipped out and locked in a triangle choke in the second. (Franklin, of course, wasn’t able to make it to the second round in either of his fights against the current champ.) A skilled submission artist, Lutter could potentially find a way to beat Ace, who isn’t looking like the most confident fighter in the world lately, and whose budding movie career may be diverting his focus. The fight would be the first in Franklin’s new six-fight contract with the UFC.

MMA Mania is also reporting that UFC veteran Evan Tanner will also fight at UFC 82 against a yet-unnamed opponent. Tanner briefly held the UFC’s middleweight belt before losing it to Rich Franklin at UFC 53; his last fight was a submission victory over Justin Levens in April 2006. Since then, Tanner has struggled with alcoholism, attempted to create a charity training center for troubled fighters that failed, worked to restore a sailboat that eventually sank, and had some possessions stolen from his Land Cruiser. Here’s hoping his future endeavors run a bit more smoothly…

I just felt like posting a video of Rich Franklin actually winning a fight, so here y’go. Let’s not take anything away from the moment by pointing out that Ken was about eight years past his prime at this point, and couldn’t stay on his feet to save his life. That part at the 4:06 mark where he basically falls into Franklin’s fist? Genius.

In “Weapon,” a lonely U.S. border patrol agent (Thiessen) apprehends a genetically engineered super-soldier (Franklin) and experiences the ride of her life when the soldier’s creator (Greenwood) relentlessly hunts them down.

The movie will also feature a lanky Brazilian cyborg named “SilvaBot3001″ that keeps kicking the shit out of the genetically engineered super-soldier despite everyone’s best efforts. The DVD will be be available exclusively at Canadian garage sales.

Hey, you remember how Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin always used to appear in Xyience commericals, and now they don’t so much anymore? Well, as Adam Swift reports on Sherdog, the two UFC stars terminated their endorsement deals due to Xyience’s non-payment. Forrest Griffin, Josh Koscheck, Mike Swick and Cung Le were also short-changed by the nutritional supplement company, though all the fighters (including Liddell and Franklin) report that they’ve now been paid in full.

The Xyience website continues to feature fighters who have left the company, including Matt Hughes (who wasn’t happy with Xyience’s performance and now shills for Nutritox*) and Sean Sherk, who blames Xyience’s Xtreme Joint Formula for his positive test for the anabolic steroid 1-androstendione. Interestingly, no fighter has blamed their split with the company on the fact that the Cran Razz energy drink tastes like rotten piss.

Despite everything, Xyience has managed to sign a three-year extension on its exclusive partnership with the UFC. Says Dana White: “We look forward to our future endeavors together as both of our companies continue their explosive growth.” Anyway, read the article for all the details.

* Special to Matt Hughes: I’m not sure I’d trust a nutritional line with the suffix “tox” in its name. You know how Botox is short for “Botulinum toxin”? It’s basically a paralytic poison. Which works for wrinkles, apparently, but I’m not sure how a toxin would benefit your muscular/cardiovascular systems. Anyway, you’d better do some more homework on the stuff, because Matt Serra just signed a contract with Vitideath and he’s looking HUGE.